Were Selena Gomez + Charlie Puth Ever Really Together?

Charlie Puth insisted in a Billboard profile published Thursday (February 1) that "We Don't Talk Anymore," his 2016 hit with Selena Gomez, was about the pop stars' brief affair. But were they ever really together, and is it possible that Puth overstated their connection?

Puth very eagerly insisted "We Don't Talk Anymore" was the result of art imitating life, and claimed that while he and Gomez were not together for very long, they did have an intense connection, the severance of which ultimately left Puth totally crestfallen.

“It’s about a particular moment in my life, when someone very close to me wanted the attention of somebody else. When I found that out and we ended it, I might have done some shady things too, and she might have asked me, ‘How long has this been going on?’ ” he said. “I don’t kiss and tell, but the only way a song like that can come across as real is if there’s something else going on behind the scenes. And that’s what was happening [with Gomez]. Very short-lived, very small, but very impactful. And it really messed me up. I’m trying to put this the best way possible: It wasn’t like I was the only person on her mind. And I think I knew that going in — what I was getting myself into.”

"You gather up a bunch of emotion with the life shovel, throw it in the life bucket, mix it up,” he added. “And she evoked such good emotion on that song, it was a pleasure working with her. That’s why I’m always happy to sing it, even though it came from a dark point in my life.”